He said: I said to Abū ʿAbdillāh عليهالسلام: May God make your prosper, doubts have reached us so feel pity for us. So were you to tell us, who is after you?

He said: ʿAlī عليهالسلام an ʿālim, and knowledge is inherited. An ʿālim does not perish but that someone remains after him who knows the like of his knowledge, or whatever God has willed.

I said: So is it allowed for the people – when the ʿālim has died – to not recognize the one who is after him?

He said: As to the people of the town, then no – meaning Medina – and as to other than them from the countries then (it is) in proportion to their place of journey. God says “The believers should not march forth altogether; and if a troop of every division of them march not forth, it is only that they may study the religion and warn their people when they return to them, that haply they may beware.” (9:122).

He said: I said: How do you regard someone who died in that (state)?

He said: He is of the status of “whoso goes forth from his house an emigrant to God and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his wage shall have fallen on God” (4:100).

He said: I said: So when they have arrived, by which thing do they recognize their master (ṣāḥibahum)?

He said: He is given the tranquility (al-sakīna), solemnity, and veneration.

He said: I said to him: When the Imam has perished and it has reached a group with their arrival?

He said: They go out in search, and they will not cease to be excused so long as they are in search.

I said: They all go out, or does it suffice them that some of them go out?

He said: God – mighty and majestic be he – says “and if a troop of every division of them march not forth, it is only that they may study the religion and warn their people when they return to them, that haply they may beware.”

He said: So these residents are in allowance until their companions return to them.